The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
February 21, 2017

Ecuador Presidential Race Likely Headed for Runoff
--------------------------------------------------

Ecuador is likely headed for a runoff vote in its presidential election,
as front-running candidate Lenín Moreno appears to have narrowly failed
to capture 40 percent of the vote. Moreno served as vice president to
outgoing President Rafael Correa. With nearly 90 percent of the votes
counted, he's leading his right-wing rival, former banker Guillermo
Lasso, 39 to 28 percent. Ecuador's election is seen as an indication of
whether Latin America's left-leaning "pink tide" is over, as Argentina,
Brazil and Uruguay have all seen right-wing administrations rise to
power in recent years. Lasso had said he would throw Wiki Leaks founder
Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, if elected.


.